Miguel Molina prepares for home race

Audi’s Miguel Molina is preparing to make his first DTM race appearance on Spanish tarmac this weekend, as the series arrives in Valencia. After four races at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, change is afoot with the DTM making its debut at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit, with a Spanish racer in the series for the first time in the modern era.

“A home round is always something special for a racer,” says 21-year-old Molina, who scored a point on his DTM debut at Hockenheim last month.

“I’m hoping to be able to help make the DTM similarly popular in Spain as it is in Germany. I was amazed to see the level of enthusiasm for the DTM there. It was a completely new feeling for me to be driving in front of such a big crowd at Hockenheim and to write such a large number of autographs.”

“In every interview with Spanish media I tell people: ‘Join us at Valencia for the race! You’ll get to see a great show,’” says the DTM rookie.

In addition to winter testing in Valencia, Molina has once again been in action in the Spanish city, taking part in a PR exercise on the streets used by the Formula One Grand Prix where he gave demonstration runs and chauffered drives, to among others tennis ace Juan Carlos Ferrero.

“The circuit in Valencia, I still know from my time in the Spanish Formula 3 Championship,” said Molina. ”I hope here I can achieve a good result. ”
Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich is hopeful that the presence of Molina, who lives in Lloret del Mar, around 400km north of Valencia, will boost the turnout of spectators.

“I’m eager to see the response to the DTM at its first round at Valencia,” said Dr. Ullrich. “After all, with Miguel Molina contesting the series, the DTM field includes a Spanish racer for the first time. I’m hoping that a very large turnout of local fans will keep their fingers crossed for him.”

Arno Zensen, Team Director of the Audi Sport Team Rosberg setup believes that the move south to Valencia will pay off for the DTM.

“We’re already looking forward to a new challenge. Valencia is a new race track on the DTM calendar, which I didn’t know before,” said Zensen.

“We had the chance to get to know it during the test and I must say that it’s a fantastic facility. Depending on where you sit as a spectator, you may have a full view of the circuit.”

Although Audi performed well during testing at the track in March, Matthias Ekström has warned not to necessarily expect this to translate directly to race pace, particularly as weather conditions will be markedly different.

“I don’t think that anyone really knows what we’ll be in for at Valencia because the circuit is new territory for all of us. It’s true that we tested there and I had a pretty good feeling then,” said Ekström.

“But tests are tests and races are races.”